


I'll Be Your Sky

by Schediaphilia



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Ableism, Bonding, Deaf-Blind Morty, Deaf-blind character, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Mentions of Sexual Content, POV Third Person Omniscient, Series of Stories in Chronological Order
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2016-04-28
Packaged: 2018-06-05 02:59:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6686446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schediaphilia/pseuds/Schediaphilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In universe FA-032, a Rick and Morty live happily, perhaps even more happily than "normal" Rick and Mortys. </p><p>A series of short stories told in chronological order to one another. Can be read as a ship fic or not, it's up to the reader.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Grateful

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic, Morty uses a series of communication, some of which are outdated, to allow better story-telling. Specifically, the Tadoma speechreading method is very outdated, and involves the deaf-blind individual placing their thumb on the speaking person's chin and their fingers on their cheek so they can read their speech. I try to outline how each communication method works, but if you need more information, in this fic I use Tadoma speechreading, co-signing, print-on-palm method is mentioned, and a braille notetaking device from current era is used.

Morty sighed, crossing his arms, head down.

Rick himself sighed, realizing there was something on the kid’s mind. He retracted himself from his current project and walked over to him, placing a hand gently on his shoulder. Rick pulled Morty’s hand up to his throat, placing his thumb on his chin and fingers on his cheek.

“Something wrong, Morty?”

Morty shook his head.

Rick sighed, not really in the mood to try and guess what was on his mind. He rolled over his own chair, plopping down next to Morty and grabbing his dominant hand. Rick pushed down his middle and ring finger, Morty’s thumb and pinky remaining extended. Rick tapped Morty’s hand to his mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

Morty relented finally, signing a quick clap and twisted his pointed and middle finger, interlocking his hands twice.

“School problem.”

Morty then frowned a bit and clarified, placing a hand to his mouth and rose his right hand by his face, his left hand touching his elbow.

Rick rose his eyebrow at that. What could be eating the kid up about lunch at school?

Rick needed more information. He grabbed both of Morty’s hands and carefully performed a waving motion before grabbing Morty’s pointer fingers and making them meet, finally he touched Morty’s dominant hand to his chest.

“Talk to me.”

At that Morty frowned and pulled away his hands, looking like he was contemplating something. Finally he opened his mouth.

“Okay.”

It wasn’t hard to see why Morty didn’t like talking, he probably didn’t have much confidence in himself. The cadence and inflection was odd, but Rick was used to it. Besides, if Rick needed to tell Morty something, he’d co-sign it with him. It was just more efficient for him to talk right now.

“I keep getting… gross food at lunch.”

Morty must’ve known that sounded odd and he continued.

“The-they’re supposed to send the menu to me- but they don’t.”

Ah. Looks like another trip and incidental threatening was in order with the principal. Rick had made it quite clear last time that it wasn’t exactly difficult to email someone something, and _no_ it wasn’t a favor.

Rick sighed. He had known taking in a deafblind Morty would be quite the task, but he had no idea the biggest issues would be other people. He was fine with having to be patient, he was even fine with having to repair the braille display on his computer every once in awhile. Hell, Rick was even fine with learning sign language. The only difficulties that ever arose was everyone else.

Rick pulled Morty’s hand to his face and Morty intuitively allowed it, listening with his fingers.

“Leave it to me, Morty.”

Morty smiled at that, genuinely, and Rick almost swore his heart skipped a beat.

When he first was assigned this Morty he assumed he was miserable. He assumed he lived in a world of nothing, bored and under-stimulated. But he had been wrong.

* * *

 

He remembered “returning home”, Beth crying on his shoulder while Summer signed to Morty.

“Grandpa is here.”

Morty was the only one who didn’t cry. At least not until Rick held his hands and asked Summer how to co-sign. Summer helpfully guided their combined hands. Rick watched as Summer guided him to rub Morty’s open palms together, helping Morty form two fists and extend his pointer fingers, fists gently colliding. Summer took Rick’s hand for the last part, guiding Rick’s pointer finger to Morty’s nose.

“Nice to meet you.”

Morty’s nose twitched, unfocused eyes watering. He signed it back to Rick twice.

Rick stopped pitying himself for having a ‘defective’ Morty after a week. He began wondering what was wrong with council after two weeks.

Rick had been wrong to assume Morty was in some dark world, and had been even more wrong to assume ‘defective’ Mortys were miserable without them. Even so, Rick liked to think the kid didn’t smile as much before he came into his life.

Morty was very studious, for, well, a Morty. Rick supposed that was because most media was… less than enthralling to Morty. After a few weeks, Morty had settled in to reading his textbooks in the garage, happy simply to be in someone’s presence. A few weeks in, Rick helped him bring in his laptop and set up his braille display and set up a workspace on the left side of his workstation.

Rick wasn’t sure why, but it was intriguing to watch Morty work. Rick couldn’t help but feel somehow grateful as he watched Morty check over his work for the third time, making sure he hadn’t mis-typed his homework assignment, or when Morty accidentally closed out the window and became confused, wondering why the content was different.

To put it simply, his Morty was surprisingly persevering and it made Rick happy to see him working his hardest, even if the kid only got Cs. 

* * *

 

Rick smiled in turn at Morty’s smile and decided to show Morty something. He tapped Morty on the shoulder thrice, an agreed upon signal meaning “stay here” and quickly located the box full of his and Morty’s most recent hobby.

He pulled over the poorly stapled together stack of embossed paper, and put it in Morty’s lap. Morty immediately beamed.

“Another comic?” Morty asked out loud.

Rick ran his fingers through Morty’s hair, ruffling it.

Morty pushed away his laptop, excitedly placing the stack of paper in its place and began reading, fingers running over embossed paper.

Rick had got the idea awhile ago when Morty was looking sort of down. Morty had signed that he was bored and there was no more recreational books in the library he could read, having read all of the small resources. Rick had tried yelling at the library, but as it turns out, buying a braille embossing machine was expensive and they had to buy their braille books individually. Rick decided then the only logical option was to build one himself.

Rick realized quickly that translating an entire book into braille on his own was too time-consuming- but the occasional comic book? No sweat. Just describe the action and dialogue. Rick felt his body tingle as he recalled the first time he’d shown Morty a comic he’d made for him.

Morty at first didn’t understand, fingers running over “Ballfondlers Issue 1” over and over. At first Rick wasn’t even sure if Morty knew what a comic _was_. Not until Morty said out loud, without any urging, “Y-you made this for me?”

Rick liked to think that Morty was touched by the gesture and not that Morty thought up to that point Rick would never make something for Morty.

After that, Rick couldn’t get Morty’s grateful smile out of his head. Without saying, he made more. And more. He had the idea that he’d only do it once a month. But in reality Rick made them whenever he wanted to see Morty smile, and Rick was beginning to face the fact there was rarely a time he didn’t want to see Morty smile.

Rick perched himself back in his seat, happy to be working alongside Morty, who was happily engulfed in the comic at this point. Rick grinned to himself at he hooked up parts of his current project to his computer, pleased by the results.

 


	2. Selfish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick cures Morty.

Morty held Rick’s chin, fingers on his cheek as Rick spoke, Morty’s face unsure.

“I have a present for you.”

 

* * *

 

It had been a few months since Rick had met his Morty and he had been working on this since nearly the first day he got here.

Morty flinched at the feeling of something weird clipping onto his ear.

Morty tried to search for Rick’s hands but Rick continued fiddling with it. Morty cringed, shuddering as a small light turned on on the small clip.

Rick smiled to himself, rubbing his hand over Morty’s ear as if in awe. It was simple enough, he had just needed to find a way to force Morty’s brain to intepret sound.

“Can you hear me, Morty?”

Morty gaped, frozen in place.

“Grandpa?”

“Just call me Rick.”

Morty smiled widely, eyes blinking away tears.

“This is what I sound like, Morty.” Rick rubbed the side of Morty’s face, leaning closely to him.

Morty seemed wordless as Rick gently kissed his cheek, arm wrapping around his shoulders and pulling him into a hug.

“I have another present for you,” he whispered into his ear, Morty shuddering under him.

Carefully, Rick placed the small device on Morty’s right temple, the same side the ear clip was on.

Rick covered Morty’s eyes as it turned on.

Hesitantly, Rick pulled his hands away slowly, unsure if the sudden influx of stimuli would hurt Morty. At the very least, he was sure he’d have a headache.

Morty blinked one, twice, eyes struggling to focus. Morty was looking at him like he was a stranger. Heart hurting and yet leaping with joy at the same time, Rick took Morty’s hands.

“Nice to meet you.”

Morty bit his lip, eyes closing. Morty shook as Rick held him.

“Come on- let’s go- go see what your mom thinks,” Rick mumbled to Morty. Morty nodded and followed, eyes closed, as if he was suddenly thrust into a world completely like his own.

Rick figured he’d get used to it.

“Hey, sw-sweetie.”

Rick held Morty’s shoulders as he presented the boy to his daughter.

“Hey, Dad,” Beth smiled.

Morty shuddered, forcing his eyes open. Rick smiled down at him as Morty looked around the living room, eyes darting around.

Beth was perplexed for a long several moments.

“Oh my god- Morty-” Beth sprung from her seat on the sofa, glass of wine forgotten as it tumbled to the carpet, bleeding into the floorboards.

“Morty it’s me- It’s me, mommy- can you see me?”

Morty’s eyes closed and opened again as he nodded, tears streaming down his face.

“Dad- oh my god- oh my god-”

Beth wrapped Morty so tightly in a hug Rick was almost worried it’s hurt Morty as she whispered “thank you.”

It was at that point Rick decided to leave Morty and Beth alone, give them the time to bond Beth had been craving Morty’s entire life.

Rick doesn’t see Morty in his garage for a few days. He smiles to himself, betting the kid is busy taking in everything. The science behind the devices was simple enough with enough juice to last months, all it did was hijack the signals of his eyes and ears and reform it into a way his brain could interpret.

Rick finishes up his blueprints for a ship with two-seats and decides to head in for the night. Walking up the stairs, he almost ignores the strange sound before he pauses.

It sounded like crying. Locating the noise, Rick stopped in front of Morty’s room. Rick hesitated for only a moment before entering Morty’s room.

Rick had never seen Morty cry. He couldn’t believe it was really his Morty crying as he closed the door behind him.

Rick sat down next to him and out of habit alone grabbed Morty’s hand, signing “What’s wrong?”

Morty sniffed, a soft cry escaping him as he sat up. Rick’s stomach sunk when he realized Morty wasn’t wearing his presents but assured himself they were only on his bedside because it was bedtime, likening it to removing glasses before going to bed.

Morty formed a fist and rubbed his chest in a circle once, twice, thrice.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry.”

Morty held his hands horizontally palms down, his right hand rising up, up up.

“Too much.”

Morty held up a fist pointer extended and then bent his finger, forcing his wrist downward, then touched his pointers together, a wave by his face, palms down horizontally and one rising. It was almost too fast and fervent for Rick to read.

“Need to say too much.”

Morty signed aggressively.

“Have to.”

Morty wiped away tears as Rick looked around for Morty’s blind-deaf communication device, a device Rick often scolded Jerry for purchasing at such a ridiculous price. Rick could’ve built one with a better wifi connection for 100 dollars. But it wasn’t like he was mad at him for getting his kid something to let him talk to people- even Rick couldn’t be mad at a Jerry for that- even though the 6000 dollar price tag made him cringe. He placed it into Morty’s hands and pulled out his cell phone, texting the device.

“Tell me what’s wrong,” he sent the moment Morty’s fingers touched the device.

The machine was incredibly expensive and so it ironically mostly went unused after a kid at Morty’s school tried to steal it. Morty didn’t seem to mind, content with teachers writing letters into his palm when they needed to tell or ask him something, excepting the lesson plan which was sent electronically every morning to him so he could pull it up and read it during class. 

Morty paused and then he wrote, fingers flying with familiarity and fluidity over the keys.

“i hate this”

Rick gulped, holding down his anger.

“Explain.”

Morty sniffled then and typed again.

“i can hear my heart beating i can hear my blood”

Rick froze at that, the reality dawning on him.

“i can hear mom and dad fighting over me”

Morty paused to wipe away his tears, struggling to breathe evenly.

“I’m sorry, Morty,” Rick texted to the device, sitting down next to him, putting a hand on Morty’s shoulder.

“I was so caught up in trying to help I didn’t think about what it’d be like,” Rick texted.

Rick knew Morty wasn’t even touching the device, knew he was speaking to no one at this point.

Rick grabbed Morty’s hand, placing it on his chin.

“I’m sorry, Morty.”

Morty shook his head, hands returning to the device.

“its not all bad but it hurts it hurts a lot my head hurts all the time”

Rick laughed, he couldn’t imagine how it could be that great if what Morty said was true.

“You don’t have to try and comfort me, I fucked up,” he answered.

Morty shook his head again, harder this time.

“no i mean it there are good parts but i cant i cant rick”

“everyone acts like im a real person now, like i was fake before”

Rick answered him out loud, “I was being selfish, as usual,” secure in knowing Morty knew he was sorry. Just not how sorry he was. Rick was caught intersectioned between awareness of the his own selfishness, in wanting to impress Beth, to give her something she had selfishly craved, as if she had never talked to her own son. As if they had never co-signed together, as if the small touches meant nothing when they meant everything to Morty.

Rick tried to place himself in Morty’s shoes and found his ability to do so lacking, imagining a world in which you were perfectly content only to be torn from it, and suddenly people act like you’re worthwhile because of it. Rick tried to imagine it, guiltiness and anger boiling in his gut both at himself and Beth.

“What are the good parts?” Rick asked to avoid letting Morty know how torn up he was.

Morty paused for a long time before typing. Rick hadn’t expected the answer and found himself tearing up, body shaking with a sudden influx of emotion.

“i got to hear you”

* * *

 

“Well, can you fix them?” Beth rubbed Morty’s hair as she looked at her father, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

“I’m sorry sweetie. I mis-miscalculated the energy input needed. It’d cost-cost a fortune to just recharge them.”

Beth frowned, biting her lip before continuing, “I don’t care, I don’t care how much it is, we can-”

Rick placed his hand on her shoulder as she bent over to hug Morty.

“It’s okay, Beth. He’s happy.”

Beth shivered.

“I know… I know but…”

“I know,” Rick answered.

 


	3. ILY

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morty likes Rick's voice sometimes.

 Morty closed his laptop, looking content with himself. He merely sat, swinging his legs for a minute or two and Rick wondered what the kid was up to.

Normally when he finished homework, he asked Rick to find him something fun to read. Normally, Rick just went on a site for original fiction and clicked the random link. Rick tried to avoid smirking when he recalled that maybe he should… check the content more often before sending it to Morty. Morty didn’t seem to complain, but Rick figured his mother wouldn’t appreciate it if she found out he’d accidentally sent him softcore porn. Twice. Okay, the second time wasn’t an accident, but he figured a teen had needs and Rick took it upon himself to occasionally feed the flame.

Finally, Morty walked over to him and tapped his shoulder. Morty placed one hand palm up and ran his other hand down, pointer and middle finger extended and running down. He then formed two fists, pointer fingers meeting, and then touched his chest.

“Read to me?”

Rick found himself trying not to smile. He pulled out the ear clip, Morty bowing his head to allow him to attach it. Rick pulled over Morty’s chair as he looked for the book they’d been reading recently.

Rick wasn’t sure how this had start exactly. It started at first when Morty had asked to “listen to him”. Rick found it awkward to just… talk for no reason. So he’d begun reading random things, at first his own notes. Morty seemed happy to just hear him talk but Rick soon decided the material was too dry.

Morty’s arm met Rick’s and he gathered in close to him. He had to whisper, he couldn’t imagine what Beth would do if she found out he was monopolizing Morty’s hearing time. Rick found it odd at first that Morty was so content in listening to him but brushed it off, figuring it was because they spent so much time together or maybe it was because he was the first person he heard. Even as an infant, Morty made no response…

Rick shivered at his own thought, as he flipped open the book. Rick was the first person Morty ever heard or saw. Rick felt privileged in some way.

“Wh-where were we?”

Morty leaned in close as Rick read along, just taking him in, as usual. Sometimes Rick wondered if he even cared about the content of the books he read to him. Sometimes he wondered if Morty was even listening to his words, if he was just listening and basking in the sounds he made.

Morty had been talking particular enjoyment in this series, finding the underdog protagonist relatable, talking excitedly about it with Rick in quiet whispers.

Rick pet Morty’s head as he read about the young wizard facing a large and imposing snake, seeing Morty tense as he listened raptly. When the scene finished Morty was smiling.

“What’s up?” Rick teased, ruffling Morty’s hair.

“I’d have beat it faster,” Morty answered, sounding thoughtful.

“Oh yeah? Why’s th-that?”

“‘Cause it can’t petrify me.”

Rick laughed, “Yeah, but you can’t see it to hit it either.”

Morty frowned at that.

“Y-you know Morty- the more more I think about it- you’re right- you’d have an advantage.”

“You-you think so Rick?”

Rick tried to ignore the warm feeling as he realized Morty’s speaking was slowly adapting to hearing, that he was slowly able to learn cadence and intonation. He wasn’t sure if he should feel proud or not.

“Yeah,” Rick answered softly.

Morty swung his legs under his chair, head down for a bit. He crossed his arms in front of himself, holding himself.

“Thank you.”

Rick’s brow rose at that.

“For what?”

“Being so-so nice to me.”

Rick’s heart hurt at that, feeling a strange mixture of anger and guilt.

Morty’s hands moved, as if pulled along by strings against his will, pointing to his chest, crossing his wrists over one another over his heart and paused. Finally, he reached out and touched Rick’s chest.

Rick tried to control his breathing, tried not to let on that tears were suddenly threatening to come out.

“I love you too, Morty,” Rick pulled him in for a hug.

 

An aside:

Rick trailed off awkwardly, staring at the page, unsure if he should continue. The passage had gotten awkward awhile back but he wasn’t sure how much he could take, even as his grandson acted like there was nothing weird with it. He normally did a time skip at scenes like this and was trying to find a good place to cut off.

Morty looked up at Rick curious as to why he’d stopped, as he sometimes did.

“Ramsay smiled his wet smile. ‘Does she make your cock hard, Reek? Is it straining against your laces? Would you like to fuck her first?”

Rick looked down at Morty’s face surprised by how unphased he was. Rick shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat before continuing, watching Morty’s face all the while.

“Now spread your legs. Let us see your cun-”

Morty grabbed Rick’s hand.

“C-can we skip this part?”

Rick sighed in relief.

“Y-yeah, sure thing, Morty.”


	4. Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick is sick of Morty's school.

Rick had officially had it. While he normally hated lawyers, he felt the words, “We’ll fucking sue,” leaving his mouth

He wasn’t entirely sure if he meant it as he shoved his fists in his labcoat pockets, glaring down Principal Vagina who had his hands up.

“Now, now Mr. Sanchez there’ll be no need for-”

“You think this is a fucking-a fucking joke? You enjoy fucking with someone’s life?”

“Of course not, as I said-”

“Yeah?! ‘Cause if I’m hearing you right- you- you fucking let some dipshit kid take Morty’s fucking notetaker? As a fucking punishment? Do you fucking rip out kids’ eyes when they break rules, you piece of shit? Do you realize how many ADA regulations you’re breaking?!”

Morty stood by his side, aware of the vibrations of loud sound near him, Rick’s heated body next to him, looking in the principal’s direction like he pitied him.

“Okay!”

Rick finally quieted.

“When you put it like that, Mr. Sanchez, I can see why you were distressed when Morty told you about our choice of punishment. As you know Morty is a pupil with special needs very unique to him so you have to realize we don’t always know how to handle kids like him.”

“Oh, and what, pray tell, was the thing my _deaf-blind_ grandson did to deserve you te-tearing away his ability to even _understand your shitty classes_ and the-then send him home with fucking homework he can’t do because YOU FUCKING TOOK AWAY HIS ABILITY TO!”

Principal Vagina visibly shrunk.

“Well, he ugh…”

“Oh, you don’t need to tell me! He got a bad grade in math! So you decided to-to fucking sabotage him!” Rick slammed his fist down on the principal’s desk.

“Are you really so fucking stupid you think a kid can learn how to get better at math when you _don’t fucking let him_?”

Principal Vagina shook his head.

“Do _not_ make me have to have this conversation again,” Rick ground out, hand possessively in Morty’s hair.

“And never _ever_ lay your hands on my grandson or his notetaker. The-they’re both individually worth more-more than this entire fucking school!”

Rick guided Morty out of the office, hand on his shoulder behind him, careful not to slam Morty’s walking stick into anything.

Morty could tell he had just experienced a major melt down from the atmosphere clearing when they walked outside.

Rick portaled them home and co-signed with Morty, placing Morty’s thumb against the rest of his fingers and then placing his hand next to his mouth and then on his cheek.

“Home.”

Rick helped him to his usual chair in the garage to help him figure out where he was spatially before rubbing his hair back, a grumble escaping his throat.

 

* * *

 

“He needs a school for kids like him, sweetie.”

“I know but… We don’t want to make him feel like a freak,” Beth answered, staring down at her coffee.

Beth had been just as enraged as Rick when she told him about it, and unlike Rick, she wasn’t bluffing when she exclaimed she’d “sue those motherfuckers into oblivion”. Rick, despite his pride in her, discouraged her, it was a public school. They had fuck-all to give and he doubted it’d even teach them a lesson.

“I know. I know… but shit like this keeps happening to him. Last week I had-had to tell Principal Pussy- or whatever the fuck his name is- to send him the lunch menus. _Again_. This is the thi-third time. They think they can just- they can just accommodate him when they feel like it- like it’s a- it’s a fuckign favor and not a fucking obligation.”

“Then why don’t we sue?”

Rick sighed.

“Look, you can go down that route- but I don’t think it’ll help.”

Beth took a sip of her cold coffee and bit her lip.

“Dad, I just- I just don’t understand. First, you don’t think he needs to go to school and now you’re advocating for a special needs school?”

Rick breathed in looking at nothing in particular.

“He likes school. He likes learning. He never com-complains. And these-these jackasses are trying to ruin it for him...”

“But he keeps trying, like it doesn’t bother him,” Beth finished, fully aware of Morty’s perseverance.

“Look, Beth, it’d… he’d be with kids like him. He’d have friends.”

Beth looked up at her father, eyes watery, “You’re his friend, Dad.”

Rick shook his head, he couldn’t be selfish. He had been selfish too long, he should’ve pushed Beth in this direction the first time Morty had an issue with his school after he came home.

“Have you asked him what he wants?”

Rick opened his mouth and closed it, staring at Beth.

No. His stomach dropped. He hadn’t even asked Morty. He hadn’t even considered Morty’s feelings, so concerned with his own guilt.

Beth reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it.

“Morty loves you, Rick. I- I hate to say it but, I don’t think he could handle living without you. Since you’ve come home he’s been so… so lively. So happy,” Beth bit her lip, a tear trailing down her cheek, “he needs you.”

* * *

 

Morty was busy poring over his work. Rick tried not to stare at him despite the question on his tongue.

Maybe it better not to ask at all.


	5. Defective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick gets a check up from the Council of Ricks.

“The fuck are you doing in my house?” Rick grunted out at the Guard Rick.

“Checking up on you. Been awfully quiet lately,” the Guard Rick ran a gloved hand over his workdesk, eyes darting around the garage.

“Guess that defective Morty re-really was the right choice,” the Guard Rick laughed to himself.

Rick’s fists clenched.

“The fuck did you just call my Morty?”

The Guard Rick cringed, pulling away as Rick grabbed his uniform roughly, “Wh-whoa, Jesus! Calm down!”

“It’s just a damn Morty!” Guard Rick added, pushing him off him.

“You wanna get shot over some-some Morty?” Guard Rick asked, more confused than aggressive.

“The only one defective here is the fucking Council,” Rick grunted as he let him go.

At that the Guard Rick laughed.

“Oh my God- don’t tell me- you’re _happy_ with a broken Morty?”

“Yeah! Yeah, I-I fucking am!”

Guard Rick pulled in his laughter, shaking his head.

“Damn, we should start assigning the cripples to problem Ricks more often!”

Guard Rick grunted, unsure what was happening as a fist connected with his face.

His vision swam as his head hit the ground.

“Oh- okay- I had that coming-” Guard Rick put up his hands at the visibly seething Rick standing over him.

Guard Rick slowly stood, ready to attack if Rick got serious about hurting him.

“I’m done here,” Guard Rick said as he shook his head, a hand holding his bleeding nose.

“Wha-what no investigation?”

“Th-that won’t be necessary. I’ve never seen a Rick so pussified in my life,” the Guard Rick laughed as he portaled back to the Citadel.

Rick regretted not getting another hit in, even if it meant getting shot in the head.

 

* * *

 

Rick greeted Morty when he got home from school as usual, guiding him around the small splotches of blood on the concrete floor of the garage. He seethed internally when Morty smiled and brought his open palm to his face, fingers touching his lips, and brought his hand down.

There was nothing wrong with his Morty.

“You’re welcome,” Rick grunted even though Morty couldn’t hear it. Morty could get along on his own but never seemed to mind Rick’s help.

Morty opened his textbook, fingers running over the pages, looking focused.

That was _nothing_ wrong with his Morty.


	6. Novelty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rick reflects.

At some point the option of sight our sound became a novelty to Morty, something experienced rarely and fondly but never a necessity. Rick was still glad his hard work came into use, even if it was in fleeting moments like these.

Morty ran his hand softly over Rick’s cheek, fingers darting out to dance in his hair.

Rick ran a supportive hand through Morty’s hair. He’d probably mock him if it were any other Morty, but with this Morty Rick knew this was something important. So he kept his mouth shut.

Half a year was a long time to spend around someone, even if it was spent mostly in silence. Rick began thinking in gestures and touches when it came to Morty, finding a surprising wealth of information in-between words.

As he let Morty gently run a finger under his chin, he realized the Guard Rick had been right. But he couldn’t find it in him to care. He didn’t care if he was acting weird or different, and he wasn’t taking that shit. Morty was _his_ Morty.

In just a few months Rick had learning sign-language, had learned how to make braille books, had even learned about a damn law for this Morty. And he didn’t regret it. He was almost glad he had been caught smuggling Mortys, was almost glad that the Council of Ricks thought this stupid fucking exercise was a punishment.

They figured assigning him a Morty would do two things: Keep him planted in one spot, and keep him from doing illicit activities by giving him a Morty who was deemed ‘useless’ by the council.

In a way, they had succeeded, but Rick knew it hadn’t succeeded in the way they had intended. He knew they intended him to angrily settle. Perhaps it was because Rick had never had his own Morty, perhaps it was because he took it as a challenge. Whatever it was, Rick was glad to have fucked up if it meant being able to meet this Morty.

Rick extended his pinky, pointer finger, and thumb and presented his palm to Morty. Morty smiled, signing it back.

Rick's brow furrowed as Morty continued, holding his fist up and bent the pointer around the middle, moving fluidly into a fist with only the pinky extended. His fist opened, palm towards Rick, and finally Morty made a fist and extended his pointer finger up with his thumb tucked under it, his middle finger juxtaposing it horizontally.

“I love you, R-I-C-K.”

Rick laughed and crossed his wrists diagonally over his chest.


End file.
